Time: Midday
Location: Small hut, Unkown Forest.
It was midday and Ramun had just come back from the little stream, which he had identified as a great source of unending albeit unwilling 'protein'.
Earlier he had tasked the system to completely update all its functions as well as compile and classify all the sources of power from various works of fiction and mythologies and the equivalent techniques to gain said power.
All that was left to do now was wait for both tasks to be completed.
Ramun returned to the hut and sat quietly waiting for an update, earlier he had toyed with the idea of using the [Matrix] but in hindsight, he could see how unhealthy that could be in the long run.
Spending extended periods of time within that world while neglecting the real one, would create an unsettling disconnect that would quite frankly be a bitch to remedy.
So he had decided to limit his usage of the Matrix.
As he sat in the hut, he found that the waiting exercise, was a great test for his patience, as the hut was unbearably hot and he had to deal with the urges that came with a younger body.
The only reason he hadn't gone crazy at this point was due to his well-honed patience working as a Software developer back on earth.
As time passed, Ramun sat in the hut constantly fidgeting, frequently looking at the red timer to check on how much time had passed until both tasks were completed.
When he was almost at his limit he finally heard the sweet melodious sound he had been waiting for.
[Ding.]
[Congratulations host]
[System update has been completed]
"Great job system, "Ramun complimented, pumping his fists lightly.
He was looking forward to all the benefits of the fully updated system.
Ramun was also puzzled by its choice of words, as hadn't made much effort in the whole process, then again at the moment, none of this whole business made a lick of sense.
[Pleased be advised host, that all functions have been fully activated and ready for use]
"What about the other task?" he questioned further.
[That too has been completed, and awaits your review host]
"Hmmn, that's more important at the moment, well excellent, see you in the matrix then, "Ramun then replied.
At this moment Ramun was wary of anything or anyone tampering with his soul before he actually had the competence to know what was actually been done and how it was done.
He had actually been terrified to find out that his soul had been tampered with by [System Prima] even though he hadn't shown it.
Although it had been done with good intentions, as they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, or some such BS.
So till he gets that competence he would just have to suck it up and do things the old fashioned way, and funny enough he might actually have an idea on how to actually tackle that little problem.
With that still in his mind, Ramun consciousness made the transition from real to virtual instantly.
....
Ramun appeared once again in his room sitting on the floor as if he had never left.
Blinking his eyes, Ramun looked around at his room in wonder and amazement, he didn't think he would ever get over the fact at how realistic this virtual world looked and felt.
"His former world had systems that had utilized the augmented and virtual reality technologies but their degree of realism could not beat what he was currently experiencing," Ramun thought as he ran his fingers through the carpeted floor.
Shaking his head once more, he set right the dislodged chair and then sat in front of his PC.
For the next two hours, he went through the classifications and types of powers that the system had compiled and also the techniques that came with them.
After an indefinite amount of time, Ramun came out of his studies surprised at his findings and the systems immaculate speculations.
Powers, paranormals, supernatural gifts, superpowers or abilities whatever you want to call it, come in various forms and shapes.
All forms of Power can either be classified as [Innate] or [Acquired].
Innate powers are abilities gotten through natural birth, while acquired powers are gotten through intense training, science experiments, or by enhancements.
Examples of Innate powers are gotten from mutations or bloodlines, psychics, espers e.tc.
Cultivation in itself is the act of 'acquiring' power or strengthening an already existing 'innate' power through various techniques.
And in both categories cultivation works on three things, The body/blood/spirit, soul/mind/spirit, and energy/qi/spirit whatever you want to call it.
Sorcerers, wizards, and witches mainly cultivate the mind or the spirit in order to manipulate the energies of reality, for various effects using spells, charms, magic arrays, or runes.
Martial artists cultivate the body or spirit, to exert explosive power and attain longevity, using either inner or outer martial techniques.
Cultivators cultivate either body, energy, or soul in order to cultivate the world[heaven and earth] and attain immortality using cultivation techniques.
These Powers are then further classified upon how effective and skillful you are at making reality your bitch.
The degree of strength ranges from either a Mortal to a Spirit being, Deity, God, Cosmic Entity, or Primordial being in that order.
However, Ramun had noticed that in all classifications and categories [Spirt] seems to be ever-present and pervasive.
The Ancient Egyptians had called it [ka], while the Tribal Indians believed heavily in the symbolism of the spirit world and its animal guides.
The [Spirit] is a great gift of nature to all living things and It is the vital force that brings life to all things, and equally the absence of it is 'death'.
All elements in nature possess some sort of spirituality, from humans, Mountains, Trees, The sky, the fish in the sea, to the birds that roam free in the sky.
That is why well-known power systems from popular works of anime and novels seem to use some form of spiritual energy eg. ki, chi, qi, chakra, nen, haki, spiritual energy even mana.
.....
The soul is the seat of the mind, consciousness, personality, while the spirit is the seat of the unconscious and instinct.
And from this, it seems that to transcend mortality the mundane and all elements of nature, is to transcend the spirit and in doing so is to attain immortality or Godhood, whichever tickles your fancy.
In this world, the first individual to understand the inner workings of power and make it systematic is Agamotto the "All-Seeing", he is also called Agamotto the "Ultimate couch-potato" by Dr. strange the Sorcerer Supreme of his time, which isn't due by some 12,000 years.
"12 millennia, Fuck!, just thinking about it gave him blue-balls."Ramun thought in frustration, making an extreme effort to throw the thought to the back of his mind.
Having found that the approximate length of time between his current era and the time in which Marvel world's well-known heroes lived, was more than some ancient civilizations combined he had been very distressed, he could only buy this info until he had the mental strength to deal with it.
Anyways back to the Ancestor N.E.E.T, Agamotto, before he became the extremely powerful mystic asshole that he was currently, he had been quite a huge Mama's boy.
The 'dude' had actually gained enlightenment on the origin of power and magic under some self-high trip while searching for his mother Oshtur, who was an Elder God in her own right.
[Damn!, What a very strong Mama!!]
After his enlightenment, he understood that the sources of power originate from either your personal energy[Egocentric], the immediate environment[Ecocentric], or dimensional energies[Exocentric].
The [Masters of the Mystic arts] had practiced some form of this, but he really didn't know what went wrong.
Along the way, it seemed they had lost sight of what it means to truly have Power.
The arts he remembered them practicing in the movies, were more of a parasitic form where they invoked powerful beings and used powerful artifacts, but never actually personally powerful like the mutants or alien races.
Ramun thought of all this as he pondered on what kind of cultivation route and techniques he was going to use in the near future.
He thought about the actual powers that he had, and what he didn't have.
A powerful soul, check.
A powerful mind, blank.
A powerful spirit, blank.
A powerful body, blank.
A powerful bloodline, blank.
A powerful internal energy source, blank.
Powerful skills, blank.
"Wow, he had a long way to go, "Ramun thought quietly. From this he could see his cultivation path, what he now had to do was to create a cultivation technique that enhanced his strong points, and covered and strengthened his weak points.
"System!"Ramun called out.
[Yes, host]
"I want you to compile different cultivation techniques using these parameters have listed, while also taking into consideration the resources from [System Prima], "Ramun ordered, while indicating the written list on his PC.
As the system started the work it was ordered to do, Ramun was honestly amazed.
He didn't know why the system did what it did, but the process it took in its creation was dazzling, to say the least.
A completely nude 3D simulation of his current form was displayed in front of him, as his apartment and the bustling city faded into white, leaving him floating in a seated position.
Ramun settled into a comfortable and relaxed position as he watched the system work its magic on the simulation of his body.
He watched as it created and destroyed various techniques, while simulating its effects on his Avatar.
Ramun watched on in morbid fascination, as his simulated Avatar went through multiple ingenious and fascinating ways of dying.
If he actually wrote a book on how to die it would be titled "A thousand ways to die like a Boss".
He had seen his Avatar, explode violently, melt, freeze, dissipate, petrify, turning into a slime, then into a mixture of a dragon and some unholy abomination, at some point a female ("shudder"), a golden chalet of all things, all sorts of animals big and small, various natural elements, wind, water, air, A Giant Tree.
At some point, it had even transformed into an old chevy[ the fuck!!].
He then gradually saw it transform into a minuscule dot and then explode into a Universe with various star systems and galaxies, then eventually die from implosion, but it didn't end there.
The system continued simulating various forms of cultivation techniques from sorcery, to warlocks, wizardry, martial arts, Deity totem cultivation, Devil,Buddhist, Heavenly demon, fiend, Mage, Arcanist, with each of them starting at the mortal stage and then leading up to something unimaginable, but if not always ending up in a violent death or explosion, or something less than human or not at all.
Once in a while, he gave suggestions to the system which it implemented, some ending without fanfare, some, w..ell, yeah with lots of fanfare, and blood, y..eah lots of that too.
In all this, he had noticed that in each system, the energies used, be it mana, qi, chi, ki, or spiritual energy when it circulates in his body they seem to follow some rule.
Ramun looked closer at each transformation, quietly falling into a trance as he floated there.
He had noticed that in each of the systems no matter which, as these energies circulated through the energy channels of his body sometimes colliding and generating spectacular effects, sometimes fusing to become something new, other times reverting their flow, which always leads to some unexpected results.
In these 'Spells' of activity, he noticed that the paths of the energy flow if extrapolated and viewed entirely on their own, the results were fascinating, to say the least.
The paths followed by the energy if viewed together formed runic symbols, billions of energy runes populating various areas of his body forming one gigantic runic system.
The saying that all roads lead to Rome fits this situation exactly.
This means that no matter the system used in cultivating, in the end, what they cultivate fundamentally are runes.
This energy vision showed him the acupoints which dotted his body that looked like black holes, devouring energy willy nilly.
Individual cells behaved like worlds on their own, he saw space creatures[Bacteria] floating between these cells.
Organs acting like separate star systems, generating large quantities of energy on a massive scale.
He saw the fabled dantian's acting as giant reservoirs for the massive runic system.
Finally, he also noticed that if even minuscule thing went wrong, then this whole system will come crashing down, violently.
Hence the deaths he had witnessed.
This experience actually woke him up to the apparent dangers of cultivation, one wrong move, and then 'Boom', no more Ramun.
Shuddering violently Ramun awoke from his trance-like state no longer as enamored with cultivation as he had been, knowing now that there are more than a million ways to spell death if he didn't take this cultivation shit seriously.
The System's simulations went on for a while until they finally stopped, when that [Ding] rang out, Ramun stopped whatever he was doing and looked at the final product, stunned.
"What the hell."
...
Status: ????[Plebian]
Name: Tuthra-Utet-Ankh-Khotan-Ramun
Race: Homo Sapien
Class: -Novice cannon fodder(You are everyone's bitch boss, get a life!)
Title: "The Entitled young master" (Don't be lazy, get a job young man!!)
SP: 1000
Health: 6/20
Energy: 0/30
Will:7
Charm: 2
Cultivation Type: Nil
Fame: 2
Infamy: 1
Inventory: [19 dimensional energy fragments], [Fiend blood essence ], [Medical compendium: Eastern and western arts of healing], [Chaos Dragon blood essence ], [Cosmic Lightning source].